Education + Tech

Education & Tech, was created to build hope that education based on social technologies, can transform the new century, and enable abundance not only spiritually but economically. Milton Ramirez, Ed.D. - @tonnet is the founder & editor. He is a teacher, tech blogger, writes on education, and hails this blog from Union, NJ. For further questions, tips or concerns please e-mail him to:miltonramirez [at] educationandtech [dot] com

Teacher + Scholar

If you are a regular to Blog Education & Tech, you shall remember that I am a blogger and I'd written a post about education almost everyday since 2003. Education & Tech provides you with education news, expert tech advice, classroom management ideas, and social media tools for educators, administrators, parents and k-12 students.

According to the latest University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, only one in 100 parents of teens 13-17 years old believes that their teen has used a study drug. This kind of drugs refer to stimulant medications typically prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); which commonly include Adderall, Concerta, Ritalin, and Vyvanse.

However, as our source establishes, recent national data from Monitoring the Future indicate that 10 per cent of high school sophomores and 12 per cent of high school seniors say they’ve used an amphetamine or stimulant medication not prescribed by their doctor. This is different to what parents think (1 percent) as accepting their teen has used a study drug to help study or improve grades.

Even thought parents are concerned about this rising problem, only 27 percent of parents polled said they have talked to their teens about using study drugs. Black parents were more likely to have discussed this issue with their teens (41 percent), compared with white (27 percent) or Hispanic (17 percent) parents. The white parents however are the "very concerned" (54 percent), compared with black (38 percent) and Hispanic/Latino (37 percent) parents.

Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health is quoted to be said:"Taking these medications when they are not prescribed for you can lead to acute exhaustion, abnormal heart rhythms and even confusion and psychosis if the teens get addicted and go into withdrawal." The physician also states that taking study drugs has not been proven to improve students’ grades, and it can be very dangerous to their health.

We now know teens are sharing drugs or spreading the word that these medications can give their grades a boost. The issue is that students without ADHD take someone else’s medication, to try to stay awake and alert and try to improve their scores on exams or assignments. The bottom line is that these prescription medications are drugs, and teens who use them without a prescription are taking a serious risk with their health and their life of course.

It is a society concern and we need parents actively to take issue with this problem. Educators, and health care professionals and all who interact with teens also need to be more proactive about discussing this topic.